


Sweet smell of spiced wines

by adrift_me



Series: ME One-shots [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Intimacy, Memories, One Shot, Romance, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 10:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7887889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrift_me/pseuds/adrift_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thane and Shepard spend an unusual night together, sharing beautiful memories of their past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet smell of spiced wines

**Author's Note:**

> Characters belong to Bioware.  
> Find me on [tumblr](http://a-driftamongopenstars.tumblr.com/) (my ME sideblog).

Shepard’s bedroom was dark. The fishtank was dimmed, the room seemed to drown in its own coziness and quiet. Everything was still and only the stars, streaming past in the open window up the hull were pouring their faint glow into the room.

Shepard was sitting on her bed with Thane right in front of her. They sat, their legs crossed and their hands held in front of them. Shepard’s forehead touched Thane’s, both of them having their eyes closed. They sat like this for a while and her knees were hurting a little, but it was worth it. While Thane meditated, his body completely still, Shepard opened her eyes sometimes and stole a glance at the drell. He gave an impression of a perfect statue, so still he was. Then Shepard closed her eyes again and listened to his breathing. She hoped to hear nothing but the heaving chest and breathed out air, but the slight wheeze crushed her hopes.

It was minutes later when Shepard dared to break the silence.

“Do you think it will work?” the woman asked in such a quiet voice that she barely heard herself. Thane merely “mmm”ed, as if asking his siha to be quiet and to follow his lead. Shepard said no more but tried to silent her thoughts, to calm her hands that were trembling with Thane’s presence. She wanted to lean in, to run her arms round Thane’s naked body, to lose herself in his embrace, but she held her own body in place. This moment was too peaceful and too precious to disturb.

“Siha…”

The room fell quiet as he called her.

“It was…”

Her heart started beating faster. He promised her his memories, after all.

“Sweet smell of spiced wines… Quiet sounds of the street ayia. The path of golden light trembles on the waves. A glowing disc of sun fades into fire.”

Shepard barely breathed as if her ribcage had diminished to the size of a tiny birdcage, making her heart beat crazily on its metal rods.

“Is it Kahje?” she asked. Thane’s head moved in a small nod and she felt the tight smooth skin of his forehead.

“Yes. It was the first time I saw sunset on Kahje’s shore.”

“It is beautiful,” said Shepard as a vivid image of the sea shore coloured her mind. She could almost touch the strings of the music instrument ayia, she felt the spiced wine on the tip of her tongue and if she breathed in deep enough, she could taste the smell of the salted sea.

“We lived in an enclosed space with my family when I was a child. When the hanar took me for training, they allowed me some freedom, rare but desired, which I used to enjoy the beauty their homeworld had to offer.”

“I’ve never seen much of a planet till I joined the Alliance. Living on spaceships, I only saw the sea of stars,” said Shepard, following Thane’s eloquent descriptions. He hummed again.

“Could you tell me your memory, siha?”

Shepard frowned. She had many. Though life on ships had never been an easy one, she got to see things that planet-borns wouldn’t. She searched her memory for something worth sharing, There were views of planets and asteroid belts, sun flares and galactic star oceans. Though magnificent, it wasn’t as special. And then she remembered…

Her hands tightened in Thane’s hold and she leaned her head slightly, so that their noses touched. She almost lost her voice somewhere deep in her throat, but it returned with a small wheeze.

“Bare foot touches the ground. Grass tickles ankles and small rocks bite skin. Air smells of dust and people. It trembles with noises of skycars and chatter. It feels steady, unmoving, constant. “We won’t be staying long, dear. Remember it,” says Mother. Hot concrete under running feet. Wind plays with short hair… How am I doing?”

Shepard opened her eyes to look at Thane’s ever so close face. He said nothing for a while. Shepard knew that he was imagining, remembering her own memory.

“It was my first visit on Earth,” she adds vaguely, half-closing her eyes, feeling their heaviness, brought by the aroused feeling of the exchange.

“I guessed. You are doing fine, siha.”

And perhaps it’s the intimacy of the moment or the way their faces touch, that Thane leaned in with an ardent kiss, bringing Shepard closer. Was it her imagination or Thane’s mild “hallucination poison”? She could swear she tasted the spiced wines as Thane’s tongue touched hers.


End file.
